Bennington

Youth sees sex assault charges

Following a month-long investigation, police served a court summons to a juvenile under the age of 16 on Feb. 27 and charged the person with two counts of sexual assault, two counts of simple assault, two counts of theft and one count of lewdness, Police Chief Steve Campbell said in an interview Thursday.

The arraignment for the juvenile will take place on March 21 at the 6th Circuit Court, Hillsborough, Campbell said. The case will be handled through juvenile court through the Hillsborough Family Division. A Bennington resident reported this alleged suspect to police a month ago. Campbell would not release the name of the alleged suspect but did say the juvenile is under 16.

Campbell said the alleged suspect was staying with someone in Bennington, and is not a permanent Bennington resident. Campbell said he cannot disclose the residence at which the alleged suspect stayed, but did say the juvenile is no longer staying there and is not in Bennington at this time. “He’s some place else, getting some help I guess,” Campbell said.

Because the alleged suspect is a juvenile, Campbell said that after police investigation, the department sent a petition to the juvenile court, which then sent a copy of the petition with a court date on it back to the police. Police went to the residence where the juvenile was staying on Feb. 27 at 8:30 a.m. and gave the individual the court petition.

Campbell said police do not book and bail suspects under the age of 18.